I could not take any photos as I was at work however it was the first thunderstorm I have experienced since April 13 this year being 115 days between thunderstorms.
For August this storm displayed some reasonable cloud structure at times as it passed over Auburn where I work. I was watching the lightning tracker and counted some 72 lightning flashes over or near Sydney and environs as it passed over between 2 and 3 pm. Until 5.15 it appears that 137 flashes had occurred with the most common being Negative CG flashes (71 flashes in total).
The most active period and the most active storms were around Sydney between the period of 1 to 3 pm then waning afterwards, particularly as the storm cells crossed the coast and weakened.
There was little rainfall where I live being 0.5 mm and 1 mm at Auburn. Some places south of Auburn such as Bankstown scored 5.6 mm, Homebush Bay 3.6 mm and Granville 4 mm but most other falls were in the 1 to 3 mm range throughout western Sydney. The highest total was 11 mm at Chatswood and 4.4 mm at Observatory Hill. It is noted that 7 mm fell at La Peruse in Sydney's east.
Harley Pearman
